Oleg I. Kotov was born in Leningrad, USSR, on September 07, 1945. He got the Diploma of an engineer-radiophysicist and obtained the degrees of Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D.) in 1976, then Doctor of Sciences degrees (D.S.) in 1995, all at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (St. Petersburg State Technical University), Russia. Since 1968 he are working in Radiophysics Department of the the St.Petersburg State Polytechnical University and has had various research and teaching positions. Presently, he is a Professor at the Radiophysics Department of St.Petersburg State Polytechnical University.
His main research interests are fiber optics, singlemode and multimode fiber optical interferometers, phase and polarization optical sensors, anisotropic optical fibers, gas and semiconductor lasers, methods of receiving of optical signals.